Right to work checks extended to gig work from October 2026
From October 2026, businesses that engage workers or individual subcontractors, including delivery platforms, face civil penalties if the people working through them have not had right to work checks.
Last checked 29/09/2026.
Source: UK Parliament
On 30 June 2026 the Home Office laid regulations under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 that, for the first time, extend the right to work scheme and its civil penalties to businesses that contract workers or individual subcontractors, naming the gig economy. They come into force, and enforcement begins, in October 2026. Digital right to work checks must now be done through a government-registered provider.
It follows agreements in 2024 and July 2025 between the Home Office and Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to add facial verification and act on shared accounts, which led to thousands of riders being removed.
What it means for riders and couriers
- Expect more identity and right to work checks, more often, including for substitutes.
- If you use a substitute, make sure they complete every check the platform asks for before they work. Your account is the one at risk.
- Keep your own documents in date. An expired right to work document pauses an account on most platforms.
Nothing about how you are taxed changes. Substitutes, account sharing and the new right to work rules covers the rules on each platform.
Sources
Related
Substitutes, account sharing and the new right to work rules
Self-employed riders can usually send someone else to do the work. That right comes with rules on every platform, a tax position most substitutes and account holders get wrong, and from October 2026 a legal duty on the platforms to check who is actually working.
Account & platform problemsUpdated 29/09/2026
Who pays the tax when a substitute delivers on my account?
You declare everything your account earned. What you pay the substitute is your expense and their income, and they declare it on their own return.
HMRC & taxUpdated 29/09/2026
Why do delivery platforms deactivate accounts?
Most commonly a failed background or document check, a customer complaint, a fraud flag, or a pattern of cancellations and late deliveries.
Account & platform problemsUpdated 20/08/2026
Substitute (right of substitution)
A substitute is someone a self-employed rider or courier appoints to do the work on their account in their place. The right to use one is a mark of self-employment.
Account & platform problemsUpdated 29/09/2026
Deactivation rules, platform by platform
Every platform publishes its own list of what gets an account paused or closed, and its own way to challenge it. Some give you four weeks, some review automatically, some never let you back. Here is what each one says.
Account & platform problemsUpdated 29/09/2026
Are Deliveroo riders self-employed?
Yes. The Supreme Court confirmed in 2023 that Deliveroo riders are not workers, so you are self-employed for both tax and employment purposes.
Employment rights & legalUpdated 29/09/2026